THE WAY (Term 3 Week 8 - 4 September 2023)
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Read, Grow, Inspire
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FOR ACTION
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Bush Fire Emergency Plans - Individual and School Preparation
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Reminder: Scheduled Review of the Assessment & Intervention Framework - Primary
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FOR INFORMATION
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Announcements
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Southern Cross University and the Diocese of Lismore Partnership Announcement
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First Nations’ Bedtime Stories - 11 to 15 September 2023
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Listen, Learn, Love - Bishop's Social Justice Statement
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HSC Showcase 2022
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Maintenance of Accreditation - NESA Elective PD
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RSL and Schools Remember ANZAC Art Competition for 2024
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Positions Vacant
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MyLearning
Across our Diocese, school communities celebrated Book Week, igniting their passion for reading and storytelling. (19 - 25 August 2023)
School communities from across the Diocese celebrated Book Week. This marvellous week-long community celebration ignites the imagination and creativity of students by dressing up as a favourite book character and sharing treasured stories. Laughter and joy spread across school playgrounds as families came together to enjoy colourful parades of incredible and wondrous characters from an extensive range of stories.
This week-long event celebrating books and Australian authors and illustrators reminds children, young people and adults alike of the positive and influential impact that books and stories have in our lives.
Schools created many fun activities centred on this year’s theme: Read, Grow, Inspire. The theme focuses on how literature has the capacity to inspire children to express their own creativity and create lifelong learners who are open to endless possibilities.
At St Joseph’s Primary School, Tweed Heads, Book Week started with a costume parade and enchanting garden story walk. The school walkways were covered in delightful pieces of creative writing showcasing the imagination and creativity of students.
On Thursday, the school held their annual Art Show. The school library was transformed into an Art Gallery, with each class from K-6 proudly displaying creative and intricate pieces of art.
‘The Book Parade was great, I love the school entry decorations, “The Story Garden Walk” also has fantastic photos, and I'm so happy they are published,’ said parent Beatriz.
Below is a gallery of images from across the Diocese.
As the bushfire season approaches, all schools have been asked to review their Bushfire Emergency Plan. This planning involves the allocation of duties to staff who are available during a Bushfire event, which affects the school's ability to remain operational.
As per the recent article in The Way, it is requested that you speak with your family and make an individual/family bushfire plan for the upcoming fire season. When doing so, please include a plan for what each member of your family will do in the event of a bushfire emergency should one occur during school hours, including your children or elderly relatives. The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) has Bushfire Planning information and resources available to assist with your planning.
Please consider that a bushfire may not affect just your home, workplace or school but the route you take between each. Please consider all possibilities, including the time any school pick-up would take to complete.
Once you have this plan in place, please then consult your school's Bushfire Emergency Plan to ensure you will be able to complete any role/duty you may have in that plan, and advise your school leadership team member if you don't believe you would be able to perform this role/duty.
To assist with your school's planning, it is requested that you formulate your individual family plan within the next fortnight.
All primary teachers and leaders are invited to participate in the review of the assessment schedule by completing the survey before Wednesday, 13th September. Please refer to THE WAY (TERM 3 WEEK 6 - 21 August 2023) for more details.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE
Richard Frankl has been appointed to the position of Production Officer in the People & Safety Team commencing 4 September 2023. Richard joins us from Autism Camp Australia, where he was responsible for multiple aspects of digital content creation, including interviewing, directing, filming and editing.
Elizabeth Fox has been appointed to the position of Regional Executive Coordinator (Richmond) in the Directorate portfolio commencing 3 October 2023. Elizabeth joins us from Sunshine Sugar, where she provides executive support to the Chief Executive Officer and Finance Manager.
We welcome and congratulate Richard and Elizabeth and wish them the very best in their appointments.
SCHOOLS
Amanda Murphy has been appointed to the position of Assistant Principal at St Mary’s Primary School, Bellingen, commencing 29 January 2024. Amanda has been a member of the Diocese of Lismore community for 17 years, most recently as Education Officer with the CSO, and then as both Leader of Pedagogy and Leader of Inclusion at St Mary’s, Bellingen.
We welcome Amanda’s experience and commitment to the role and wish her all the best for her appointment.
Southern Cross University and the Diocese of Lismore signed a bold, three-year research agreement.
The Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools was excited to announce early this week a partner with Southern Cross University to reimagine and co-design teacher education and training that will revolutionise and redefine how teachers are prepared for their careers.
This partnership was announced at a joint press conference on 28 August at St Carthage's Primary School, Lismore.
The agreement is being signed amidst a broader national conversation about the practice of teaching and the preparedness of teacher graduates for an increasingly complex classroom landscape. The $1.2 million three-year research program will deliver positive outcomes and impact on students, teachers and our wider school communities.
'Pre-service teachers will have the opportunity to combine learning and practice in the teaching school classrooms from Day 1 of their studies. They will have the opportunity to learn while they teach in schools across the Diocese, spending more time in the classroom before they graduate. We anticipate many pre-service teachers will embrace the opportunity to remain teaching in the Diocese of Lismore Catholic Schools after graduation,' Adam Spencer, Director of Catholic Schools.
See attached the Media Statement and select press coverage from this event.
First Nations’ Bedtime Stories is an annual week of storytelling by Common Ground. It brings dreaming stories as old as time into homes and classrooms around Australia. Dreaming stories are sacred and have played a central role in First Nations cultures since time immemorial. They are the foundation of First Nations ways of thinking, being and knowing. They carry knowledge and law and teach us how to care for our country.
Every year, Common Ground works with different First Nations creatives and communities to film five Dreaming stories. The films are shared online, and people come together to watch them over five days, from the 11 to the 15 September, 2023.
For more information and for schools to sign up in 2023, please follow this link.
The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has released a new Social Justice Statement (2023). In this Statement, the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council join together in calling for the spirit of love to be evident in our approach to the Voice referendum and beyond.
Love is at the heart of our Christian calling, and we, in the Church, in embracing this commitment in our relationships with Australia’s First Peoples, can show our fellow Australians a better way that leads to healing and justice. Change is necessary if the hopes and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are to be realised.
To read more of the statement, view the attached document.
2023-24 Social Justice Statement - Listen Learn Love - FINAL online
The Lismore Diocese HSC Showcase celebrates and captures the talents of our 2022 HSC students, reflecting their creativity, innovation, technical skills and conceptual development. These projects represent the culmination of months of diligence and commitment by students, planning and designing, developing their skills and applying them to the task of creating inspirational and engaging works.
Spotlight On …
MacKillop College, Port Macquarie (Dance)
Student: Maddison Reed
Title: Cat
Statement: The concept of my Composition is the characteristics of a cat, and my intent is, through Dance, to demonstrate two of these characteristics: stretching and play through chasing a laser. Watching videos of cats enabled me to identify common movements, such as the stretching of limbs and the outreach of the front paws to catch, which, through abstraction, became motifs used in my work.
Video: https://vimeo.com/777969751
From the beginning of this term, teachers maintaining accreditation will no longer need to log Elective Professional Development (PD) in eTAMS. NESA has advised that 'teachers will keep a personal log of the Elective PD they’ve done that only captures essential information (date, title, Standard Descriptor addressed, duration). Teachers will need to retain this log for up to 12 months after their maintenance period ends as part of the quality assurance processes.'
NESA will continue to provide the option for teachers to log Elective PD online. NESA will advise teachers when this function will be removed. Teachers will still be able to view Elective PD previously logged in eTAMS. Some teachers may prefer to continue logging PL in eTAMS until they have completed 50 hours of NESA Elective PD or until the function is removed.
In the Diocese of Lismore, the whole School Learning Plan, which identifies NESA Elective PL for all teachers, complemented by MyLearning records, should negate the need for a personal record for most teachers. We thank school leaders who continue to model the type of NESA PD undertaken at school for teachers as it is completed.
This is an administrative change only. Maintenance of Accreditation requirements have not changed, and teachers will still need to complete 100 hours of PD, including the minimum NESA Accredited PD requirements. For more information, please view the slideshow attached (which constitutes 45 minutes of NESA Elective PL).
The RSL and Schools Remember ANZAC Commemoration was first held in 1953 and co-hosted by RSL NSW and the Department of Education. Over the years, the service has expanded to Catholic Schools NSW and the Association of Independent Schools NSW. Proceedings, held at the Anzac Memorial Hyde Park in April each year, are delivered entirely by school students, including the Master of Ceremonies, keynote address, readings, and musical accompaniment. The Service also includes an Inspection of the Guard by the official party, The Ode, The Last Post, and Rouse.
The service aims to educate primary and secondary school students about Australia’s military history whilst paying respect to the service and sacrifice of servicemen and women of the Australian Defence Force.
To mark the 71st Anniversary of this service in 2024, RSL NSW, the Department of Education, Catholic Schools NSW and the Association of Independent Schools NSW are launching an art competition for NSW school students. The theme of the competition is 'Why Lest we Forget?' inviting students to create an artwork that considers why we commemorate ANZAC Day. Two artworks will be selected for the cover of the 2024 service program, and all finalists’ artworks will be displayed at the Anzac Memorial and included in the program.
More information, including the guidelines, how to submit artwork, judging and FAQs, can be found here.
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OFFICE
- 2x Education Officer, Religious Education (Primary)
- Team Leader, Payroll
- Manager, Applications
- Administrator, Applications
- Applications Officer.
SCHOOLS
- Acting Principal - Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School, South Lismore
- Acting Assistant Principal - Learning & Teaching - St Brigid’s Primary School, Kyogle.
IEW Collaborative Network Days
Indigenous Education Workers (IEWs) across the Diocese are invited to join their colleagues for the upcoming Collaborative Network Meetings being held in Term 3 and Term 4. Please take note of the following details and registration closing dates.
Term 3, Week 8 - North Session (Tweed/Richmond Region IEWs)
Date: Friday 8 September, 9:00 am - 2:30 pm
Location: Invercauld House, Goonellabah
Registration: Closing Date - Friday 1 September
Term 3 - Week 9 - South Session (Clarence/Hastings IEWs)
Date: Thursday, 14 September, 9:00 am - 2:30 pm
Location: Catholic Schools Office - Clarence
Registration: Closing Date - Friday 1 September
Term 4 - Two-Day IEW Collaborative Network Meeting (All IEWs)
Date: Wednesday 25 October - Thursday 26 October
Location: Opal Cove Resort, Coffs Harbour
Registration: Closing Date - Friday, 29 September
Further information can be found on MyLearning, including funding code and release days. Please seek Principal approval before completing your registration.